At the present time there is an increased concern about the spread of infectious diseases to health care workers due to accidental skin punctures. Various diseases, especially HIV (AIDS) and hepatitis may be transmitted when the patient's blood is on a medical instrument which cuts the skin of a physician or nurse. That may occur from a needle ("needlestick") during an injection or test or from a surgical instrument during an operation. If a transfer of diseased blood occurs, regardless of the quantity, it may cause infection, illness and death.
The patent literature has many patents which attempt to solve this problem using special gloves. Many of the patented suggestions appear to provide gloves which are too bulky or heavy for practical use. In any event, there apparently are no such gloves in wide use in the medical field, although there is a need for such protective gloves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,578 entitled "Penetration-Resistant Surgical Glove" discloses a large number of tightly interlaced fibers adhered to a latex (thin rubber) glove. U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,290 entitled "Cut-Resistant Surgical Gloves" relates to a hand mold dipped into a curable liquid, lined with flexible armor, and dipped again into the curable liquid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,385 uses two flexible layers and an optional layer of corrugated metal foil. U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,930 entitled "Thin Elastomeric Article Having increasing Puncture Resistance" discloses thin plate-like non-elastic particles in an elastomeric matrix. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,127 entitled "Puncture-Proof Surgical Glove" employs knitted material of high tensile strength fibers. Other patents for protective medical gloves are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,951,689; 4,901,372; 4,942,626 and 5,070,540.